Royel Otis are a pop-rock duo from Sydney who are popular enough to be performing at Glastonbury and touring with Halsey. Earlier this month they shared a new single called "Moody," a song where singer Otis Pavlovic complains about his girlfriend not seeing his "good intentions" and putting him "in the doghouse again." On the chorus, he sings: "Last time, she said she would kill me/ My girl’s a bitch when she’s moody/ But she’s my everything."
Though the song already has millions of streams, the lyrics have also garnered some pretty deserved backlash; they're misogynistic at their worst and just plain boring at their best. What's more, Royel Otis have also been accused of deleting social media comments calling out the casual sexism. When the Aussie news outlet News.com.au reached out to the band for comment, entertainment lawyers for the band's management apparently had this to say: "'Moody' has been Royel Otis’ highest performing release in the first 2 weeks globally both digitally and on radio." Meanwhile, the band members added: "This song is written from a specific perspective, it is not intended to convey a broader view or standpoint about women in general. We apologise if anyone understood those lyrics otherwise."
Royel Otis' music video for "Moody" appears to reference Adrian Lyne's Lolita adaptation, which is quite the interesting choice. You can watch that below.
